Like Father Like Son

1987 "Chris and his dad have accidentally changed bodies - but no big deal. Chris gets the Jag and the Gold Card. Dad gets the fake ID and the bio final."
5.2| 1h36m| PG-13| en
Details

Dr. Jack Hammond has best chances to become medical superintendent in the clinic. So he's completely absorbed in his work and has no understanding for his teenage son Chris' problems with school. By accident one of them drinks a brain-exchanging serum, and it switches their identities. This leads of course to extraordinary complications in school and at work, but also to insight in the problems and feelings of each other.

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Reviews

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Wizard-8 I think I have seen every example of the "body switch" genre, at least all of those that have been made in the past 40 years or so, and "Like Father Like Son" is the worst of them. The first 20 minutes or so are painless mediocrity, but then soon after the movie collapses. What's the problem? I think the main problem is that the characters are stupid. If I was in their situation, I know I would be terrified and trying my best to not raise suspicion. If the movie had done that, it could have been funny seeing these people trying to do their best but making mistakes. But the movie's two main characters seem to be trying their best to blow the charade - not realistic. And the movie's sense of humor is really bad - we have such stuff as audiences falling asleep during lectures, a gag that's done TWICE. If you want to see a good example of this genre, see "Freaky Friday" (the original or the remake) or "Vice Versa".
tradinginsider Im not too sure about what the last reviewer was expecting to see...Citizen Kane? This was a great lighthearted comedy from the time I was graduating high school that anyone born in the late 60s-early 70's will enjoy. You will love the cornball fashion from the big 80's as well as the big hair. I thought they put a interesting plot in the freaky Friday theme using the brain transference juice. Also, Dudley Moore did an excellent job right after the switch acting like a freaked out 17 year old in a 47 year old's body. And of course, the comedy ensues as both struggle to jump into the others life, one in high school and the other at the hospital as chief surgeon. So if you want to come home and have a drink and relax and watch a lighthearted comedy from when you were in high school and remember the old days, this is definitely the movie for you.
Pepper Anne Like Father, Like Son is probably most appealing to 80s fans, presenting typical teen genre conflicts as well as 80s teen stars, Kirk Cameron and Sean Astin. Young kids might appreciate it simply for the story (despite it's lack of novelty) of a teenager getting all the priveleges of being an adult, while only having to change appearance and not attitude. The decade however, offering a nauseating selection of role switching comedies and parodies, may have the rest of us looking to avoid this repetition and searching for something else on the shelves. Chris Hammond (Kirk Cameron) is a high school senior. He's an average student, a decent track team participant, and likes a girl at school who happens to be dating a psychotic jock bully. And, his dad, Jack (Dudley Moore) is breathing down his neck to get him an ivy league school to study pre-med, leaving Chris secretly wanting to tell his dad to just let him make his own decisions about what he wants to do.Chris's buddy, Trigger (Sean Astin), has a wacky uncle who's staying with him. He lived in the desert for awhile, experimenting with body-switching potions. Trigger gets a hold of the brain transference serum and it switches Chris and Jack's brains so that Chris is Jack and Jack is Chris. There's a mistake here, in that their accents should've switched as well, since when Trigger tried it on the cat and dog, the cat barked at the dog and the dog meowed at the cat. But, it makes for a whole lot of trouble. The incredibly boring and sometimes big-shot Dr. Hammond has to settle on being a teenager awhile. And Chris has to settle for being Dr. Hammond, both without screwing things up. For Dr. Hammond, he hopes to get the ordeal with over quickly; but for Chris, there's advantages to not having to show up for school, take tests, and the like. But, they each grow quite irritable of the situation as they tend to screw up each other's lives. Dr. Hammond has a few nasty run-ins with the bully as Chris. And Chris, involved in an affair with the boss's wife, not only sets the living room on fire, but also risks his father's chances of becoming chief of staff. I still think it's a fun movie for kids and probably teenagers. Safe family fun for the most part anyways due to lack of sex, violence, and for the most part, language. However, Kirk Cameron did tend to get quite annoying at parts as the whiny teenager. Actually, Trigger was one of the best characters in the movie as a sort of slacker friend of Chris, except he's not in the movie all that much. I did like Chris as Dr. Hammond during the hospital scenes, when he had to take his med students on rounds, and didn't know what the heck he was doing. It has it's moments.
tripwires The jokes did not quite take off in the first half of the film. I was appalled by how bad the dialogue was, and how un-funny the lines that are supposed to be funny are. Chris' best friend is perhaps THE most annoying person in the first half; his lines are retarded, and so is he. Chris (Kirk Cameron) is also very annoying, and so is his dad. After they switched brains though, the film got a whole lot better. It's a riot to see Dr. Hammond in Chris' body going to school and being a smart ass. It's even funnier to see Chris in his father's body going to work. This movie is basically something to entertain you for a couple of hours. It's not over-the-top-ly funny, and it's very stupid, but it's all in the name of entertainment. Great acting from Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron. Can't say much for the rest of the cast 'cause I don't really remember what the heck they did. A rather interesting plot as well, if you're not in the mood to think.To sum it up, "Like Father, Like Son" is stupid...but it's fun.